A Curious Discovery: An Entrepreneur's Story

by John S. Hendricks

Overview

In A Curious Discovery, media titan John Hendricks tells the remarkable story of building one of the most successful media empires in the world, Discovery Communications.

John Hendricks, a well-respected corporate leader and brand builder, reveals that his professional achievements would not have been possible without one crucial quality that has informed his life since childhood: curiosity. 

This entrepreneur’s story takes you behind the scenes of some of the network’s most popular shows and greatest successes, and imparts crucial lessons from the network’s setbacks.

With insights, anecdotes, photographs, and real-world wisdom, A Curious Discovery is more than a powerful autobiography and corporate history: It also a valuable primer for business innovators and entrepreneurs.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062128553
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	06/25/2013
Pages:	371
Product dimensions:	6.44(w) x 9.12(h) x 1.23(d)

About the Author

John S. Hendricks is the founder of Discovery Communications, the world's number one nonfiction media company, and serves as chairman of the Board of Directors. Hendricks has been the driving force behind the company's dramatic growth, including the expansion of Discovery Communications from its core property, Discovery Channel, to current global operations in more than 215 countries with 150 networks, among them TLC, Animal Planet, and Science. He lives in Maryland.

Table of Contents

Introduction: An Irresistible Notion 1

Part 1 Incubation

Chapter 1 Four O'Clocks 11

Chapter 2 Wired to the World 17

Chapter 3 Rocket City, USA 22

Chapter 4 Television Lifeline 29

Chapter 5 Visualizing Victory 42

Chapter 6 Silent Partner 47

Chapter 7 A Cave of Curiosities 51

Chapter 8 Freedom to Create 56

Chapter 9 Curiosity U 61

Part 2 discovery

Chapter 10 From the Sidelines 81

Chapter 11 Connections 111

Chapter 12 The Most Trusted Man in America 115

Chapter 13 Not All Angels Are in Heaven 121

Chapter 14 Bon Voyage 135

Chapter 15 A Near-Death Experience 146

Chapter 16 The Napkin 156

Chapter 17 Restart 164

Chapter 18 Russia: Live from the Inside 169

Chapter 19 Captain Outrageous 178

Chapter 20 A Board Divided 185

Chapter 21 Digital Dreams 196

Chapter 22 Programming for the Planet 217

Chapter 23 Brand Guard 260

Chapter 24 Enduring Company 263

Part 3 Reflections and Rediscoveries

Chapter 25 Oprah's OWN 275

Chapter 26 Velocity 282

Chapter 27 Facing Reality 292

Chapter 28 In the Cabinet Room 300

Part 4 New Daydreams

Chapter 29 Planet School 315

Chapter 30 Gateway to Curiosity 328

Appendix 1 The Entrepreneur Inside 335

Appendix 2 Business Creation 340

Acknowledgments 349

Index 355

Editorial Reviews

In 1984, Hendricks had ,000 of debt on his wife’s American Express card and took all but out of his family’s bank account to fund an audacious idea for a cable channel that features science and education programming. A blend of memoir, business guide, media history, and adventure, Hendrick’s story is proof that entrepreneurship is a socially approved form of gambling. Discovery Communications is now a near-ubiquitous media shark, with shows such as Mythbusters, Jon & Kate Plus 8, Planet Earth, and Trading Spaces. Hendricks built an empire out of his college fundraising experience, charm, and enviable prescience, in spite of his lack of real media experience. He boasts that he saw it all coming: DVR, Internet television, and e-books. Hendricks’s confidence and delusional optimism is absolutely contagious. It would be great if, as he claims, Discovery’s educational program is the key to solving a host of problems, from terrorism in the U.S. to poverty in Africa. Hendricks has proved his willingness to go “all in,” and maybe we all need a little bit of his kind of crazy to make our dreams reality. 8p b&w photo insert. Agent: Gail Ross, Ross Yoon Agency. (July)

Publishers Weekly

“John Hendricks’ story is quintessentially American, and yet he ended up bringing to millions the diversity and excitement of the world. In A CURIOUS DISCOVERY he tells a terrific story rooted in the 20th Century but exploding into the 21st.” — Robert Redford

“A CURIOUS DISCOVERY is a fascinating look at our ever-evolving media landscape and a practical guide for purpose-driven, made-in-America prosperity.” — Bill Clinton

From the Publisher

A CURIOUS DISCOVERY is a fascinating look at our ever-evolving media landscape and a practical guide for purpose-driven, made-in-America prosperity.

Bill Clinton

John Hendricks’ story is quintessentially American, and yet he ended up bringing to millions the diversity and excitement of the world. In A CURIOUS DISCOVERY he tells a terrific story rooted in the 20th Century but exploding into the 21st.

Robert Redford

A memoir from Hendricks, the founder and chairman of Discovery Communications, the world's leading educational communications and TV company, which boasts more than 400 million subscribers living in 215 countries. The author tells how he built the basis for his present dreams to provide educational TV services to the 400 million households worldwide that lack electricity by working through the world's village schools. He describes how he had been drawn to the educational power of TV as a child growing up in Alabama in the 1950s. Moving into public service as one of the first lobbyists at the federal level for university programs and then the founder of a newsletter company servicing academic science programs, Hendricks recalls how he prepared for the opportunity that would present itself in September 1982, when he founded "Cable Educational Network," the predecessor to the Discovery Channel. The author had accumulated insight into the world of documentary films, cable TV and the broadcasting system, as well as the untapped potential of 25 percent of viewers whose interest in scientific and other factual content was going unaddressed, which Hendricks calls "the magic number that would one day create a multibillion-dollar industry." The author also shares his own view of the characteristics that shape a successful entrepreneur. For Hendricks, the key has always been curiosity, which he views as "the fuel of human progress," something that can be taught "to anyone, at any age, anywhere in the world." Recruiting the people and raising the finances to build the capacity called on still other qualities, which the author's narrative helps bring out. Hendricks also explores the economics of cable broadcasting and where the technology of global educational TV is headed. An interesting tale of how curiosity and entrepreneurship merged to transform TV and education.

Kirkus Reviews